Matan’s Shooter

Chapter 820

Blaugrunn wanted to go to Ha Leeha immediately, but Ha Leeha refused. There was something here that even Blaugrunn did not fully understand.

Above all, they had not yet identified the cause of the “chilling cold”.

‘Even if I say there’s an undead village, Gerda wouldn’t acknowledge it.’

What was inside?

That was what the highest-level ice elemental desired.

“Whew, whew, whew. Jellypong?”

『Myong?』

“Let’s go. Slowly, very slowly…”

– Ha Leeha-ssi! Ha Leeha-ssi?!

– Wouldn’t it be better to investigate a bit more before you go? If you ask Lordna or something, she might know something—

– Haha, it’s a waste of time. Seeing it with my own eyes is the fastest way. So, wait for the good news!

– Wait a minute! You don’t even know what’s there, you can’t just go alone to such a strange place—

‘〈Melding Breath〉.’

His breath melded into nature.

All sounds were muted.

All chats, including whispers, were prohibited.

Wheeeew…

Haaaah…

He could feel himself inhaling and exhaling, but he couldn’t even hear his own breath.

No heartbeat, neither the rattling noises from earlier nor the indistinct mumbling of the undead was audible.

It was like being submerged underwater, but much more brutally soundproofed.

Ha Leeha tapped Jellypong’s tentacles lightly, then moved his fingers to point forward.

Though he couldn’t hear, the extension of Jellypong’s tentacles indicated that it understood his intentions.

‘Not hearing my own heartbeat makes it even quieter.’

He felt excitement and tension but struggled to properly perceive his own state. Finally, Ha Leeha’s body began to move.

It was an adventure in an unexplored underground area of the northern icy mountain range in the old continent.

* * *

‘Now that I think about it, didn’t someone mention discovering an underground ruin? Could this place also be something like that?’

Of the countless locations discovered by Fernand, Ha Leeha knew one.

If this place turned out to be an ancient lost city or kingdom, the rewards from this discovery would be unimaginable.

‘Ha, and of course, that right belongs to me, the first discoverer. Hmm, will Fibiel and Shazrashian end up fighting over it?’

The icy mountain range was newly opened Shazrashian territory.

However, Ha Leeha who discovered a huge underground secret ruin belonged to Fibiel.

‘I hope my discovery doesn’t cause a conflict. Oh! Should I inform the Shazrashian president in advance?’

Thankfully, they were allied nations, so they would proceed with excavation and investigation cooperatively. Ha Leeha was already contemplating the potential benefits he might receive.

Though slowly, Jellypong was advancing steadily.

Since Ha Leeha couldn’t hear any sounds, he couldn’t be sure how long it had been, but moving slowly meant none of the undead below paid any attention to him.

‘Most of them are skeletons. There are quite a few zombies and ghouls too… the types are more varied the deeper we go.’

There were even scenes of skeletons gesturing to each other. All the skeletons looked perfectly human in terms of equipment; they were simply lacking flesh and muscle.

It was almost as if transformed humans were conversing as skeletons.

Of course, Ha Leeha was recording everything.

‘These aren’t even Dullahan-level undead talking… Skeletons dressed in robes walking around… Man.’

Skeleton mages did exist. But they were just former NPCs who became undead after dying; they had known how to handle mana in life.

But the skeleton mage Ha Leeha saw now?

It wore a robe like a real living mage and even carried a wand. There was something definitely suspicious. Sensing the light becoming brighter, Ha Leeha removed his night vision goggles.

Now, he could see the undead’s faces with his naked eyes.

He also clearly saw the symbols on the wall.

‘A slightly stretched horizontal X-pattern. This sure isn’t the flag of any of the current four nations on the Lope continent. I don’t recall any knightly orders or aristocratic NPC families using it. And it’s not even a shield, that’s—’

It was an emblem like an elongated X, surrounded by a heart.

Quite different from the usual emblems formed by combining flora and fauna in a shield-like drawing.

Ha Leeha stared at the emblem and recorded it.

Using a playback item, it would be possible to show it in-game to Blaugrunn or Gerda. After proceeding cautiously for a while, Ha Leeha finally saw what lay beyond the corridor.

‘Whoa… What the, did I just say whoa out loud?’

He had to be extra careful as he couldn’t even hear his own voice. Ha Leeha quickly covered his mouth.

It was an awe-inspiring sight.

Exiting the corridor, he found himself in a massive hall. But it wasn’t just the hall that was surprising.

Behind the hall, he saw a colossal underground cavity.

A gigantic underground cavity, grander and beginning much deeper than the gorilla paleo cities, with a towering fortress in view.

‘And what’s with this structure?!’

From the hall, endless stairways descended.

The hall itself seemed to have no other purpose than serving as a landing for stairs or an escalator.

Ha Leeha quickly surveyed his surroundings.

But there were no other exits.

‘If I keep climbing along this wall, will I eventually reach the ceiling? But— even if I do, it’d be impossible to observe everything below.’

Now, his only option was to descend the stairs after passing through the hall, surrounded by an innumerable number of undead.

‘This is still just the entrance, isn’t it? One of probably several entrances…’

Ha Leeha clung to the wall and peeked around. The corridor’s ceiling, from which he barely arrived at the hall, had several similar corridors visible in his field of view.

If such halls surrounded this vast underground cavity in a circular pattern, and considering the span and gaps, he estimated there had to be at least thirty such entrances.

‘Alright, let’s assume there are a thousand undead per corridor and entrance. Then… how many more are there in that massive space below?’

Ha Leeha felt chills run down his spine.

How could such a space exist?

So, what was inside there?

Ha Leeha had to re-strategize.

Even if he moved around while invisible, he would inevitably bump into the undead and get caught immediately. In that case, he needed a form that could withstand collisions.

He poked at Jellypong a couple of times.

After confirming that Jellypong’s eyes were slowly opening, Ha Leeha pointed in the direction he had come from. Jellypong began to retrace its steps slowly and cautiously.

Thus, Ha Leeha emerged from the wall of the hall to the ceiling of the passageway, and from there back to the area where the first skeleton was.

“Deactivate ‘Melding Breath’.”

Bzzz―!

The sudden influx of all surrounding sounds made Ha Leeha feel dizzy.

However, he couldn’t afford to hold his head and wait.

‘Jellypong?’

『Myong-myoung?』

‘Neutralize that skeleton. Just restrain it; don’t kill it. Can you do that?’

『Myong-myong!』

Ha Leeha stealthily took out an item from his bag. Then, he commanded Jellypong.

‘Let’s go, combat Mode: Strength.’

Unlike the agility-focused attack mode, this combat mode massively increased strength and stamina.

Jellypong, now semi-transparent and jelly-like, gleamed more intensely.

Just as Ha Leeha was thinking that—

“Ka-Kaka-Kat?!”

『Muuuuuu―!』

The skeleton was startled and confused by the sudden appearance of the strange creature, while Jellypong, letting out a buffalo-like cry, swallowed the skeleton whole.

“……Unbelievable.”

The skeleton was trapped inside Jellypong, flailing around as if in a water prison.

“Better than killing it—Jellypong! Just pull the skull out!”

『Mooong!』

The giant jelly, capable of swallowing a skeleton, wriggled. The skeleton inside struggled, but it was futile.

Soon, the bone neck of the skeleton cracked and started pushing against Jellypong’s surface.

“Anyway, you don’t die from this, so be thankful.”

Ha Leeha placed a pair of bulbous glasses on the skeleton’s face.

A moment later, he took off the glasses from the monster’s face and put them on himself.

『Moo, moong!』

“You’ve seen this a few times already. It’s nothing new. Last time, you even transformed into my likeness.”

As Ha Leeha talked, his bone face made clicking sounds due to the jawbone movements.

“Jellypong! Don’t kill him, but break all his limbs, including his leg bones, and throw them in eight directions.”

If this skeleton was a guard, killing it might trigger some alarm.

But neither could Ha Leeha leave it alive after it had seen his disguised form.

Thus, this was the method he chose.

‘If I can’t pass through invisibly… I’ll take on your form.’

From inside Jellypong, the sound of the skeleton’s bones breaking with loud cracks was audible.

* * *

‘You must not make any sound, got it? Even if I take damage, don’t protect me. Just stay still. Let’s switch to a sword.’

『Myong!』

After ending combat mode, Jellypong quickly transformed on Ha Leeha’s command.

Though Ha Leeha had mimicked the skeleton’s appearance perfectly, he lacked one crucial thing: the sword the skeleton was holding!

Jellypong transformed into a sword and was gripped by Ha Leeha.

Holding the sword handle, which felt unusually squishy, Ha Leeha shivered for a moment.

‘If we get caught, we’ll be out in a flash. No excuses.’

Ha Leeha’s mind was filled with the thought that causing a ruckus might blow his narrow chance entirely.

His goal was to get in, confirm the identity discreetly, and get out without anyone knowing.

‘Damn, I can’t see a thing. Can’t use night vision goggles either.’

The only downside was the darkness.

To an observer, Ha Leeha would appear identical to the skeleton, but to himself, he was walking while wearing the bulbous glasses, making it impossible to use night vision goggles.

‘Judging by the sounds around me, more undead should start appearing soon. In any case, this direction is correct.’

Before long, even his mana vision ended.

All he could rely on was his passive skill, ‘Distorted Vision’!

It wasn’t a bright green vision like night vision goggles, nor was it a perfect thermal camera-like man vision.

But it did vaguely show the mana held by the surrounding monsters, and if he looked up occasionally, it showed the ‘wind path’ inside the cave, allowing Ha Leeha to move along the airflow.

Clatter— Clatter— Ssssss……. Ugh.

The surrounding noises grew denser. Ha Leeha continued walking with his senses on high alert.

Or so he thought.

Thud—

‘Gasp!’

Hadn’t he already verified the number of undead while traversing along the ceiling with Jellypong earlier?

Perfectly avoiding them was impossible from the start.

“Gellgellgellgell?”

A strange sound came from next to Ha Leeha’s left cheek.

The rotten stench was so horrible that he wanted to cover his nose, but he refrained from showing any reaction.

“Gellgellgell?”

‘Shit, what are they saying? I can’t communicate—’

“Gellgell, gellgellgellgell.”

But standing still wasn’t an option either.

The undead’s voice got louder, and Ha Leeha noticed other voices joining in.

“Drikiiii……. Phoohooo…….”

“Kakakakakaka?”

It felt like mere noise, but they clearly reacted to each other’s sounds.

Ha Leeha soon realized that this was their version of a ‘conversation’. He had only one choice left.

“Kaa— Kakakaa.”

“Gel?”

“Kakakaa— Kakakkak.”

A bizarre sound emerged as he nearly choked himself with his tongue.

‘…Did I get caught?’

At least, it sounded most like the skeleton whose limbs he had just broken.

The atmosphere in the passageway turned cold as a result of the lifeline imitation.